


We'll Have to Muddle Through Somehow

by Entwinedlove



Series: Twelve Days of Xover Xmas [9]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU - Repealed Statute of Secrecy, Christmas Caroling, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-25 01:00:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17111474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Entwinedlove/pseuds/Entwinedlove
Summary: The quartet goes caroling.





	We'll Have to Muddle Through Somehow

No one ever said relationships were neat and easy and if someone had, Bucky would like to set them straight on the matter after a good wallop on the back of the head. Things had been tentative over the last five months, with double dates where the lines between couples were blurred. He and Peggy had had a slow introduction to modern times and open magic, though it upset him to see how prejudice still abounded. Peggy and Hermione had gone shopping, Steve had pestered him into seeing a doctor after he mentioned his prosthetic pinching, and their apartments were magically combined into one. Things started to fall into a new normal.

Peggy was introduced to the current director of SHIELD and went on more missions than Bucky did. He tried not to feel upset about that, he did have a disability after all, but being overlooked as a good agent chafed. He mentioned it to Peggy and shortly thereafter started receiving offers to go out on assignments with Hermione. Having a partner who had magic and could use it openly changed the game and it gave him a chance to get to know Hermione better.

By the middle of December, Bucky had also talked to three specialists, an engineer, a roboticist and Tony Stark about a new prosthetic. Stark promised it would be ready by Christmas but beyond that wouldn't elaborate on design. All Bucky'd asked was that it not be red.

Someone had signed them up for caroling and left the flyer on the kitchen table. So that's how he found himself, bundled up against the surprisingly chilly, wet DC weather with a group of strangers getting ready to sing Christmas songs. Hermione had sent a text saying she'd meet them at the park where they were gathering but he, Steve, and Peggy shared a cab. When they arrived, there were about a dozen adults and half as many children. Many of them were wearing cloaks. Bucky paused in his stride and murmured under his breath, "We weren't supposed to dress in costume or something, were we?"

Steve answered, just as quietly. "Not that I know of."

One of the cloaked people turned around and smiled in their direction. Steve approached her and kissed her cheek and suddenly Bucky recognized her. Hermione was wearing a white cable-knit sweater and jeans under her dark green cloak. He was glad they weren't supposed to dress like Dickens characters or something.

One of the other cloaked people turned around and Bucky focused on her. She had kind eyes and a wide smile. She too was dressed normally except for the cloak and she was holding a toddler. She looked around at the others and introduced herself to the small gathering. "Hi, I'm Tamara. I'm technically not the host of the event but I am the backup. The host had a family emergency so I'm filling in. Thing is, I don't actually live around here, so you guys are going to have to make sure we don't get lost. I know the host had planned for the last stop to be the AFRH on Rock Creek Church, which according to Google Maps is a ten-minute walk in that direction," she said on a laugh, pointing roughly west. She had a slight accent that was an odd mix of Southern and French. She went on to list about eighteen songs they were going to cycle through. Most of them Bucky knew, though he probably wouldn't remember all the words.

Steve voiced a similar problem. "I don't know a few of these."

"Good thing I took care of that," Tamara said smiling. She took out a wand and turned to an older child. "Hold that out for me honey," she instructed and then tapped the notebook four times. Suddenly the child was holding five notebooks. He passed them out but kept the last one and she repeated the process for the next little group.

When Bucky opened it, he noticed that there were lyric pages for the four basic vocal parts. He found his parts and had a glance over the words as Tamara led them through the first verse of the first song in the book. Once everyone was relatively settled on which part they should sing—with the kids being a free-for-all—they set out. The houses in this neighborhood were close together so the group would stand on the sidewalk and two of the kids would knock on the doors of two of the houses then come scurrying back to their parents to join in the singing.

There were a few mishaps. Someone's voice cracking on a note that was a bit too high or too low for them, no one being home at a few houses, a child tripping and scraping their knee on the concrete. Bucky would have expected Tamara to be the one to soothe the child but instead, he watched as Hermione knelt near the little boy and talked with him. Then she healed the small scrape with her wand. When she stood, the little boy reached up and held her hand.

Bucky smiled and looked up, catching Steve and Peggy watching the interaction too. There was a brief pang in his heart. In the past, he'd had a family with Peggy. He wondered if that was a possibility for their future now. He had trouble imagining it. Both Peggy and Hermione were very dedicated to their careers and he couldn't picture either of them making the decision to have a child, especially with the crash course of birth control options they'd been presented with months ago.

Somehow they ended up repeating the same four songs because the kids would just start singing without direction. It wasn't until they got to the retirement home that Tamara suggested a few of the less used ones, including ending with "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."

They didn't stand outside at the retirement home, they were ushered inside to a large common space where a group of elderly men and women were sitting. Some were in wheelchairs, others had walkers or canes nearby. Plenty of the men were wearing caps that declared them veterans. At least three of them said World War II on them and Bucky swallowed at seeing their wrinkled features.

"I want a cap," Peggy whispered, which caused Bucky and Steve to both snort soft little chuckles. They sang the first two songs back to back and the residents danced along in their seats. A few of them sang along too.

Between the second and third song, another caregiver came out from a hallway and one of the children that had stuck close to Tamara all night shrieked and ran to him, shouting "Uncle Sam!" which had Steve glancing back at Bucky with a quick smirk. The third song was one of those that Bucky didn't know—"Silver Bells" copyright 1951 according to the top of the page—but they'd gone through it once already and it was easy enough to hum along. While he was humming along he noticed Sam was watching the group with a smile on his face, though every so often his eyes would track back to Steve. Bucky had seen that look on others' faces before, both in the past and here in the future. That was the face of someone who recognized Captain America.

Tamara started their last song and Bucky closed his eyes. He could still almost hear the Judy Garland version he heard on the war front. He even remembered how that was the only time he saw Dum Dum cry.

By the bridge, the three voices on his left had dropped out. In front of him, though, he could hear a few new voices. A bass, surprisingly clear from someone so old, and an alto, a little flat but with just as much feeling. The children had stopped singing too. On the last line, Bucky opened his eyes to see it was just him, Steve, and Peggy still singing along with two of the WWII vets. Everyone else was looking at them with shiny eyes.

"I've never heard that version before," Hermione said in the ringing silence, "That was beautiful."

The bass vet responded, "Sinatra changed the lyrics back in '57. I'm surprised any of you know Judy Garland's version."

Sam leaned over and said, "I think that's because these three might have first heard it when you did." His eyes were on Steve's face, watching for a reaction.

"Nah, they're all too young," one of the others said but now Bucky could feel the gaze of many of the people on him. He remembered all too well the cameras that followed Steve and the rest of them around back then. He glanced at Peggy but she didn't look as worried about being recognized. Steve, on the other hand, was looking down bashfully with a grin on his face.

Sam stepped forward and offered his hand. "Sam Wilson."

"Steve Rogers," Steve replied, finishing the handshake. Then he gestured at Peggy and Bucky. "Peggy Carter and Bucky Barnes."

Sam rocked back on his heels and looked at them. "I read about your miraculous recovery. Hadn't heard a whisper about anyone else."

Hermione interjected quietly. "It's a little complicated. Magic and all."

"And that's Hermione Granger!" Tamara called, joining them. "Remember me freaking out when the Statute of Secrecy was broken? About the war that had been going on in Britain?" she said, speaking to her brother. Around them, the children and the other adults split off to talk with some of the residents.

"Ah, right. Potter, Granger, Weasley at the forefront." He turned and offered his hand to her too. "Nice to meet you." He addressed the four of them when he said, "Thanks for singing for us. That was something special."

"Our pleasure," Steve said. Bucky could see the look in Steve's eyes that said he'd just made a new friend. Bucky walked towards the vets to mingle. Peggy joined him.

"You do look awfully familiar," the bass vet said as they approached. He was looking at Peggy with a puzzled expression on his face.

"My name's Peggy Carter."

He gave his own name as John and shook her hand and then turned to offer the same to Bucky. Bucky introduced himself and knelt to talk further with the man. After they'd been talking for a few minutes he stopped mid-sentence and then said, "You're Captain America's girl."

She laughed and nodded, looking first at Bucky and then over her shoulder at Steve. "Yes. I am."

Bucky felt no desire to insist otherwise nor did he feel any jealousy. He smiled. A little while later, Hermione joined them, stepping between him and Peggy. She waited for a break in the conversation before saying, "I've hired a car. Should be here in ten minutes." Her phone was in her hand and she waved it back and forth as she spoke.

John harrumphed at her and Bucky noticed he was eyeing her cloak.

He'd seen enough people have snide comments about her as a witch and he didn't want her to hear another so he said, "Internet—so helpful," to hopefully play on how times had changed.

It didn't stop John. "They shouldn't be wearing cloaks. Just marks them out in a crowd, like yellow patches. They can blend in and they ought."

Bucky was conflicted. He didn't think choosing to wear a cloak was anything like being forced to wear a patch as a Jew but he felt like he could see the other side of that argument too. Wizards had been in hiding so long... wearing a cloak in public was reclaiming part of their culture as far as Bucky could tell. It was complicated and he didn't know what to say. Thankfully, Peggy redirected the conversation to something less contentious.

When they finally arrived back home, Steve announced. "I'd like to cuddle. On a bed."

Bucky looked at Peggy and Hermione as they looked at him. They'd all cuddled on the couch before while watching a movie or something but they hadn't progressed to a bedroom yet. Peggy turned her attention to Steve and asked, "Do you have a preference?"

"Nope."

Bucky was gleeful to find out that four fully-grown adults could cuddle on one of these new "king" sized beds.


End file.
